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Vanderbilt started red hot and never cooled off in an 81-71 win over Purdue Saturday night.

Led by freshman Riley LaChance's 26 points, the Commodores (6-2) shot 58.3 percent from the field and buried 9 of 14 from 3-point range in front of a Memorial Gym crowd of 9,565.

"When I'm hitting shots like that, they've got to come out and play me, and it just opens up a lane to the basket for me and other guys," said LaChance, who had the most points by a Vanderbilt freshman since A.J. Ogilvy scored 27 against Auburn in the 2008 SEC Tournament.

For Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings, a former Purdue player who played on the 1980 Final Four team, it was a satisfying victory in the teams' first meeting since 1965. But he downplayed the personal significance of the win.

"That was a fun game to be a part of," Stallings said. "… But I told the team after the game that I really appreciated their efforts, but I honestly didn't want to win this game any more than the Baylor game. That's the truth. I just wanted to win the game because it was today's game."

Stallings' 298th win at Vanderbilt broke a tie with Kentucky's Joe B. Hall and Georgia's Hugh Durham for seventh place on the career list of overall wins at an SEC school. Tubby Smith is next on the list at 308 wins at Kentucky and Georgia.

It was Vanderbilt's first win over a Big Ten team since knocking off Indiana in the 2005 NIT, snapping a four-game losing streak against the conference.

LaChance scored nine points in Vanderbilt's decisive 17-3 run early in the second half, beginning with a 3-pointer and ending with a baseline scoop shot.

Around LaChance's performance, fellow freshman Matthew Fisher-Davis camped out on the wing and buried three straight 3-pointers, with the last one pushing the gap to 65-44.

LaChance delivered the final dagger with a 30-foot 3-pointer to beat the shot clock with 6:06 remaining and fend off Purdue's last gasp.

"When Riley hit that 3, that kind of put them off a little bit," Stallings said.

An early back-and-forth battle took a turn toward the home team when the Commodores started an 18-8 run midway through the first half, stretching a 23-18 lead to a 41-26 advantage.